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We are happy to share a wonderful review of our newly released SuperFlatline Speaker Cable, recently published on TheAudioBeat.com. In his piece, What I’d Recommend To A Friend: Nordost SuperFlatline, Roy Gregory remembers the cable that “awakened the audio public’s awareness of both the importance and performance potential of speaker cables“. He also realizes that in a world of one-box solutions, the affordable price of the SuperFlatline makes it all the more relevant today, especially at its performance point.

“…it is very obviously cut from exactly the same musical cloth [as Valhalla 2], with its crisp, clean dynamics, unforced transparency and expressive musical range. That uncluttered clarity allows it to cut straight to the heart of the densest or most compressed studio mix… Regardless of genre, SuperFlatine’s musical exuberance is hard to beat.“—Roy Gregory

Nordost has more to offer than the exclusive, reference-level products that we are best known for. Offering a complete range of products that are designed to complement all systems from the highest-end to the most modest, Nordost has something for every music lover. That is why we are especially excited when we get reviews featuring our introductory products— so that people can see how transformative our most elemental cables can be! In his review, Nordost Purple Flare USB, Jeff Dorgay looks into the improvements that our entry-level USB cable makes on a system. Dorgay explains that the deeper, more quiet background and “relaxed feel” that the Purple Flare USB gives to the performance is something that even non-audiophiles can appreciate.

“[With the Purple Flare] great recordings feel larger and densely packed recordings open up more and are less fatiguing to listen to. Even my favorite live recording (and arguably one of the worst sounding records, ever) KISS-Alive! perks up when delivered via the PF. I wanted the best and I got it.”—Jeff Dorgay

After receiving over half a dozen reviews in little over a year, Nordost’s QKORE Grounding Units continue to impress industry insiders, reviewers, and consumers alike. The most recent QKORE evangelist is Stereophile’s Jason Victor Serinus. In his article, published in the January issue of Stereophile, Jason was blown away by the improvements gained by introducing QKORE Grounding Units to his system. According to Jason, the noticeably widened soundstage, increased detail, and natural quality of decay that he found while using the QKORE validates the monetary expense and time commitment that audiophiles expend chasing the idyllic listening experience.

“I can’t imagine that anyone who’s invested considerable time and energy and money in a high-end system would want to be without the markedly ‘blacker’ backgrounds, increased transparency and detail, more vivid colors, and greater overall veracity delivered by Nordost’s QKore Ground Units…The law of diminishing returns does not apply; the differences were cumulative, and anything but subtle.” —Jason Victor Serinus

The third installment of NOVO magazine’s three-part cable upgrade series, The Journey to Higher Quality Audio With Nordost Leif Cables: Part 3 or 3 was released this October. Reviewer Suave Kajko is taking his readers through the process of maximizing the performance of their audio systems step by step. While parts 1 and 2 focused on Blue Heaven Interconnects and Power Cords, part 3 sees Suave shift his focus to Blue Heaven USB and Speaker Cables. With a full loom of Blue Heaven cables finally installed in his system, Suave finds a refinement to every discernible improvement he made along the away. However, what may surprise most readers is the difference that the USB cable made, since many up-and-coming audio enthusiast dismiss such digital cable upgrades.

“With the Blue Heaven USB cable in place, between my laptop and the DAC, I was rewarded with a further lowered noise floor, which resulted in a wider soundstage, with more precise positioning… both instruments and vocals sounded closer to what you expect to hear in real life, deepening the music listening experience.” – Suave Kajko

You can now read all three parts of Suave’s Blue Heaven cable review in the review section of the Nordost website –

Any review of a product in context of the Bluesound NODE 2i will read like a love letter to the NODE itself! The NODE 2i is brilliantly engineered and executed; designed with audiophile sensibilities but with the features and form factor to appeal to a much larger consumer base, the NODE 2i perfectly bridges the gap between high performance audio and mass appeal.

For my review, I decided to use the NODE 2i “full monty”: I hooked the unit directly up to my power amplifier, using the NODE 2i’s streaming services through its built in DAC chips and digital volume control. I did not want to spoil or flavor the performance, nor did I want to introduce too many variables, which only prove to confuse things. In fact, using the NODE 2i in this manner gave me the chance to directly compare an otherwise bargain priced, single box, source/preamp (the two most critical items within a HiFi system) to my much higher priced, separate components. All cabling within the system was a combination of Purple Flare Interconnects and Speaker Cables, and Blue Heaven Power Cords. All components were connected to a QB8 power distribution bar, used in conjunction with a QKORE1.

The immediate impression the NODE 2i makes on the listener is of a very large scale sound for such an affordable piece. The sound-stage is both wide and tall, though with a relatively shallow sense of physical depth. This is not to say that the NODE 2i is flat sounding — just that its presentation is more on the forward and energetic side of things. At no time did the NODE 2i sound brash or unrefined. Tones and timbres, if not perfectly neutral, certainly never sounded anything other than correct. This is an area where affordable digital HiFi often shows its cards: the sound must be voiced to be appealing, but often ends up sounding grossly colored in some fashion. This is not the case with the NODE 2i — its sonics are otherwise unobtrusive.

After listening to the NODE 2i for several days I then swapped out its factory supplied two prong power cord for the Nordost Purple Flare Power Cord. I have to admit I am somewhat biased in favor of the Purple Flare, as I have firsthand experience with it, used on my AppleTV and Samsung TV. In both cases, the visual image was far more vibrant than when used with the factory power cords. I certainly expected the Purple Flare to bring improvements to the NODE 2i, but I wasn’t entirely sure in what ways.

With Purple Flare plugged in, the NODE 2i retained its overall appealing character. The sound was still energetic— fast and powerful. My “consumer” ears heard a further improvement of the NODE 2i’s overall sound. What was immediately apparent to my “audiophile” ears was that the higher and lower frequencies now had greater delineation. While this type of improvement is hard to quantify, it is important to stress that music in real life has a “continual” sound, where frequencies extend as far as the environment allows, rather than the more abrasive frequency roll off that electronics inevitably perform. While this more continuous presentation now allowed me to listen longer at higher volumes with less fatigue, it also represented a more natural overall sound at all volumes. Large scale and complex music had less confusion with the Purple Flare Power Cord in place.

The NODE 2i has a very present upper midrange, which is why I think it sounds so appealing and energetic. If a product were to couple this with less well represented higher frequency band, the presentation could become uneven and brash. While I alluded before that I would not characterize the NODE 2i as brash sounding per se, with the Purple Flare installed, the sound was certainly even smoother.

The NODE 2i’s bass frequencies are the only area where I could ever be truly critical—certainly not of the performance at the price—rather in terms of absolute resolution. The bass is somewhat compressed, giving the NODE 2i a great sense of punch, but without the dry control and heft of much more expensive digital components. With the Purple Flare in place, bass frequencies too are improved, gaining a degree of that dryness, which better represents natural bass instruments, without loosing the NODE 2i’s characteristic punch.

Things got really interesting after leaving the Purple Flare Power Cord in place for over 24 hours. When I returned to my system to listen further, I was presented with a more “liquid” presentation I’d not yet attributed to the NODE 2i. Frequencies across the range had more weight to them (in the sense that frequencies would sound closer to this in real life). However, where I was now most impressed was with a new found sense of physical depth to recordings through the NODE 2i via the Purple Flare. While still retaining the initial impressions of width and height, the sound of the NODE 2i was now more complete in all plains.

Depth of stereo image is something I normally exclusively attribute to higher end electronics. It is arguable that no one other than the recording engineer has any concrete knowledge of how much depth any one recording should have. The same goes for image specificity, width, height, and overall scale. I did not engineer any of these recordings and I am certainly not an authority on how they should sound 😉 but I’ll take any little improvement that further provides the illusion of a live performance.

What is so impressive about the NODE 2i combined with the Purple Flare Power Cord is how close their combined performance was to much, much more expensive equipment. The NODE 2i is a clearly well engineered component whose full potential can be easily realized with the affordable Purple Flare Power Cord.

Nordost is often pigeon-holed as a company that exclusively offers reference-level products, but that is not the case. Nordost offers a complete range of products that does include cables that are designed for the highest end systems conceivable, but we also offer cables that are perfectly paired with even the most modest of hifi systems. That is why we are especially excited when we get reviews of our introductory products, so that people can see how transformative our most elemental cables can be! In his latest review, Jeff Dorgay of ToneAudio took a look at our White Lightning Speaker Cable. The jump in clarity that he experienced leads him to recommend this introductory cable to any audiophile who is looking for a modestly priced upgrade to their system.

“The result with the White Lightning cables was dramatically better than anything else I’ve used that is comparably priced and could live happily ever after with these cable in that system.”

Nordost is happy to share a great review of our SuperFlatline Speaker Cable. SuperFlatline was one of the first cables to put Nordost on the map. This cable became known throughout the hifi industry as one of the most respected high end speaker cables, offering a performance that was virtually unmatched at its price point. Today, more than 20 years later, its reputation remains the same. In his review for Headphone.guru, Gary Barker was very impressed by the SuperFlatline speaker cables:

We are pleased to share that our Heimdall 2 Heaphone Cable was recently named a HiFi Choice Recommended Product! Neville Roberts gave the Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable a five-star rating, raving about its ability to raise levels of clarity and realism in music. Auditioning this cable with a pair of Sennheiser HD 800 S Headphones, Neville described the improvements for his Hifi Choice readers:

“I can hear more instruments playing and the sheer reality of the performance is spectacular; the imaging is noticeably improved and each individual player is more clearly identified. What is particularly interesting is that when I revert back to the Sennheiser cable, the sound from each instrument seems to be more blurred and overlaps into the sound from adjacent instruments.”

Last month, NOVO magazine picked up where it left off in its cable upgrade journey with Blue Heaven Analog Interconnects. Reviewer Suave Kajko is taking his readers through the process of maximizing the performance of their audio systems step by step. In part one of his three-part series, Suave focused on power cords. Now, with the focus shifting to interconnects, he is noticing even more improvements to his system:

“The background became slightly blacker, which in turn allowed the vocals and instruments to offer a better presence…it was as if a faint fog had dissipated from in front of the music system, allowing a cleaner, more transparent sound to immerse.”–Suave Kajko

This month yet another fabulous review of the QKORE was released. In his article, Peter Katsoolis of SoundSage! Australia, describes contaminated AC power as tainted blood, which can spread from component to component, wreaking havoc on the performance and sound of your system. The cure, as Peter found, was QKORE.

“What the QKORE1 then does by giving a musical blood transfusion to each and every audio component, and to so clearly and audibly ‘AC lift’ the performance of my entire system, is genuinely astounding.”